Chapter Eleven

"Checkmate." I concluded as I placed my rook at Anthony's side of the chess board.

"Damn it. This is why I prefer checkers. I am not limited to certain spaces... in order words I can cheat just fine."

I laughed as I placed the pieces back in their original spots. "So, about you and that guy? What's your plans for the future? Potential boyfriend?"

Ah, he was referring to Thomas, that friendly jock I told him about a while back. "Anthony, it was just to see if I enjoyed kissing guys. We're not interested in one another I can tell you that much."

He nodded his head moving his black pawn forward. "I see, have you found a boy that has interested you?"

In return to his reply I shook my head moving my white pawn forward two spaces. "I'm fresh out of the closet I have to give myself some time to blossom. Not even sure if my gaydar is up to par."

Moving his knight into the battlefield Anthony could only grin. He told me that there's plenty of boys who were in the same boat as me.

He did have a point, not many people in our school were out and about their own sexualities. I'm quite certain most of them don't even pay it any mind just because how it's treated around here. It's the main reason why I really don't wanna tell my parents about it at all to be totally honest.

I took ahold another one of my pawn in front of my bishop, my favorite piece. "You'll find someone I am sure of it." He said moving his pawn forward once more.

This was it, my brand new way of living.

It has been two weeks since the battle between Sam and Jacan and all I can say is that being over here at this part of the island was a lot worse then where I use to be. Boys were a lot more rude, little kept, and my god were they just sex driven. Even if I was claimed by Sam, someone with a big name around here did not stop them from trying to get me to blow them or sleep around.

Worse of it all was Sam kept me locked away almost always like some princess in a castle. To think I let my guard down for a second only for THIS to happen to me.

Currently, I was locked away in this room with none other than Sam himself who was too busy gawking at himself in the mirror for the hundredth time in a row.

"Who's sexy? Your sexy! Who's sexy? Your sexy!" How cringeworthy could one human being possibly be?

As if he heard my question Sam turned to me. "Enjoying what you see so far Zach?"

Not at all.

There has been times when I did try to escape from this room. Obviously didn't workout too well when you have a guy who can easily overpower you. Sam was so nonchalant about my attempts that he would even entertain it. He'll purposefully let me be inches away from the door then out of nowhere appear out of nowhere and deny my only exit with a smile on his face.

"I take that as a no?" He asked after me being non-responsive. "What will it take for you to actually appreciate what I am doing for you? You been here for two weeks and all you have done was try to escape or stay silent."

He scoffed, "You really think those guys were you friends? No offense but you don't know how to pick decent friends. I can give you so many reasons why I'm better then all your friends made so far."

"You know, you think you know what's going on. But in reality you have no idea what the hell is truly going on. Sam, your so busy with your head up your ass playing castle with two other idiots you don't even comprehend what THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

He grimaced, now turning his entire body to me and begun walking towards me. Stopping directly a foot away from me he clenched his fist as hard as he could but I wasn't intimidated by this. "Take it back or else..."

"What are you going to do huh?" I stood up so I was face to face with him. "Everyone else may be scared of you Sam but I'm not. All I see is a boy hiding behind power and a nonexistent title. If it wasn't for either of those quirks, you'd be same lowly trash that you spat constantly about."

Sam was angry, the way he tightened up his jawline showed it. "SHUT UP!" He shoved his hands into my chest making fall backwards onto the bed. "Do you remember nothing I said?! Don't make me get Charley!"

Fixing myself upright I lunged at Sam beginning to claw at his eyes. When I made contact he let out a yelp of pain, trying desperately to get me off of his person. However, I purposely locked myself around him in a way that there was no way of prying me off. I wasn't letting go till I was finished with him.

All he could do was shield his eyes from my fingers but that didn't stop me from going to other sensitive spots as we wrestled on the floor. I went into his ears and nose as well and every time he tried protecting those spots I immediately gone back to the original target. Sam needed to suffer, suffer for a very long time for all he has done. He had rolled over on his stomach planting his face into the floor and covering his ears so there was no way for me to get to his soft parts and he knew this.

Even without his empowerment from people he was tough enough to endure my blows without any injury. That didn't stop me from kicking repeatedly in the ribs or stomping on his back. Suddenly, Sam turned towards me sweeping me off my feet making me fall on my back hard. Despite the pain that shot throughout my back from the landing didn't stop me from kicking him in the face when the chance had rose. Ignoring my foot Sam managed to get on top of me and pin me by both arms and sat on my body in a way that I couldn't kick him or even attempt to budge him.

"YOU BETTER CALM DOWN!" He demanded, "YOUR BEHAVING LIKE AN ANIMAL AND FOR WHAT? SOME LOWLIVES?!"

"Those lowlives are my friends!" I took in a big breath releasing a big ball of spit straight towards his face. He froze up when the glob of saliva made contact with his face. As my spit made its way down his face and eventually dropping off of his jawline. I couldn't help but be extremely satisfied with what I had done to him. "Face it Sam, your no better then ANY of the prisoners here. Just because you were here before anyone else doesn't mean your privileged. Your human too at the end of the day, your not a God."

He chuckled, "Okay." Getting off of me he looked down with pure disgust on his face. "You wanna play dirty Zach? Let me show you how I can be just as dirty." Just as I propped myself on my elbows Sam was already putting on an his black jacket.

Getting up from the floor I stomped my way over to the door blocking him from exiting. "Where do you think your going Sammy?"

Sam scoffed at me as he wiped away the remaining spit of his face. "You think I am joking? Hmm, let's see if I am joking when you watch all your friends be thrown into the void." Pushing me aside, he forced the door open walking out.

Shit.

I ran out after him only to be shoved back into the room by two sets of hands shoving against my chest making me fall down on my back.

"Where do you think your going huh?" Peering my head up from the floor I was faced with two boys standing before my feet. "Ha, looks like your friends are gonna die horrible deaths and it's all your fault! How does it feel to know that hmm?"

"Yeah, that look on Sam's face says it all! You pissed him off and now he is going after what you love most, that being your friends! How does it feel to know you fucked up and killed your friends off?" No, I didn't kill them off. My friends were stronger then that there was no way they were going to be killed off that easily. I kicked one of the boys in the shin making him fall over to the side. The other grabbed my steel toed boot before I could even lay a kick on him. "LET ME GO!" Trying to kick my foot free only for the other boy to take a hold of it.

"Ever since you gotten over here I've been anxiously waiting for Sam to give us the okay to do whatever we wanted to you... now here's our chance!" Hearing that last sentence escape from his ugly unkept lips made me stare at him in bewilderment. These two wanted something out of me and I would be damned if I was going to give it to them. "NO!" Their response was straight laughter closing the door behind themselves. I flipped myself over onto my stomach trying to crawl away from my aggressors only to be pulled backwards by both of them. I did all I could to get them away from me by flailing around like an absolute mad animal, screaming at the top of my lungs, trying to bite any of their fingers if they dare come close.

One of them grabbed the top of my jumpsuit pulling down zipper to expose my chest. "Be a good boy and just hold st-" he stopped in fact both of them stopped their pursuit.

Slam!

"STOP RIGHT NOW YOU BASTARD!" It was Sam's voice that could be heard from the hallway.

Slam!

Sam was being slammed into the wall over and over again. By who was beyond me but they were getting closer to the room. "WE HAD A DEAL! I WON THE DEAL!" He yelled outside. Jacan? Was that him doing this to him?

Suddenly, the door was flung open slamming against the wall with Sam flying over us across the room his body colliding with the wall and then hitting the floor instantly losing consciousness. Lifting my head standing in the doorway was Kirk dusting off his jumpsuit.

"GET THE HELL OFF OF HIM!" He bellowed to the two boys who didn't hesitate to move away from me.

Walking over to me Kirk offered his hand to me. "Let's go." He simply said.

Taking his hand Kirk helped me off the floor leading me out of the room. I was shaking from the ordeal that had just take place in that very room.

At the springs, Kirk and I sat by the shoreline looking at water calmly push against the sand. Ever since we left from that part of the island not word was spoken between either of us. I was so shaken up by what could have happened had he never showed up.

The fact that Sam gave those two assholes the okay to have their way with me simply because I didn't give him what he wanted just told me how freaking psychotic he truly was. But now that the two of us were away from that place I could finally relax a bit. Turning my head turns him I watched as he looked at the purple sky completely distant.

"Thanks for that Kirk." I told him scooting closer to him. "You really saved me back there."

He continued looking at sky taking in a deep breath. "Let this be a lesson to you, don't trust Sam. This was why I tried to warn you about him but you wanted answers from him. Then you let him in... you let him in." Kirk was right I took extreme measures to get answers from a narcissist. So extreme I allowed myself to receive a BJ from him in which he grown attached to me like some puppy to it's new owner.

"Your now seeing what I said about this place and why I told you about how safe certain places were. Anyways, it can't be reversed it's done now. Me and the group have already talked about having you stay in Kyzarian's cell for the meantime." Standing up from the ground Kirk cleaned off his backside. "Come on, I will take you to his cell."

Unexpectedly, I took his hand stopping him from walking. The gesture made him jump from contact. "I wanna talk, just me and you."

"You were almost without a doubt was... well you know. Don't you think you should get some rest?"

I don't care about rest right now and I won't be sleeping no time soon. "Sit down Kirk, please?" Listening to my wishes Kirk sat down once more letting out a huge breath.

There was something urging me to ask a question. A certain question that sounded easy to answer but had way more meaning to it. The fight happened two weeks ago and I am sure Kirk had got wind of it easily. I understood that it was a deal that Sam won but it was obvious he never cared for the deal in the first place. He could have gotten me out a long time ago so why this particular day? How did he know I was trouble?

"Kirk, how long were you there on that part of the island for?" His gaze shifted towards his boots when asked this question. See, I had a feeling that ever since I was over there Kirk was waiting for the perfect reason to intervene. He's gone for days to almost weeks at a time. There's no way in hell he just conveniently happened to be there at the most perfect timing. When he never bothered answering I moved closer placing a hand on his shoulders. "Kirk?" I softly called him.

"I was there for some time because I knew that Sam would do something to hurt you. It would be only a matter of time and as you saw I was right." I nodded my head at him. "You do care huh? I knew somewhere in that skinny body of yours was a part that owns a heart." My eyes met with his a genuine smile appeared on his face revealing dimples.

So cute!

"I wanna show you something we can talk on the way over there." He got up from the ground as did I waiting for him to start walking. "Follow me." He said walking down the shoreline.

Matching his pace we both walked down the shoreline. I was glad that he was a lot more caring this time around. Kirk also kept to his word just as I hoped when mentioning about the group and their plans to keep me safe.

"Tell me something you remember back on earth. You must have dreams or memories you look back on?" He asked me.

"There's lots of things I remember. I had it pretty good before coming here. Two best friends I think about everyday when I wake up, impressing my parents with my smarts, going on fantastic trips around the world. I had everything in the palm of my hands Kirk... then of course I told them about my true sexuality and that's when everything went to shit."

"Don't take offense when I say this but... your parents are idiots if they couldn't see that you were obviously gay. If I were out there with you it would have been too noticeable for me."

"None taken, I'm fully aware of that. I am certain they threw my stuff out of the house and most likely burned all of it. Unfortunately, I'm the case of where the parents are so disgusted by it they rather disown their own children. I wish mine were as accepting as yours or at least hated it but still loved me."

Kirk shrugged his shoulders leaping onto a rock that was in the middle of the river then to the other side. "As I stated before, people are afraid of what they can't understand in life. It also has a lot to do with bloodlines. All a homophobic imbecile has to do in life is live long enough to spread his hatred to the innocent souls born into the world."

Leaping across from the rock myself I found myself intrigued by his way of words. "So easy to install yet so hard to uninstall from the human mind." He agreed with me as we continued to walk down the stream. Eventually, we found ourselves standing in front of a tree, a rather large tree at that. Most likely the largest one I have seen since I've been here.

Looking at the lowest branch to the ground, Kirk jumped up to grabbed it pulling himself up then turning towards me reaching his hand down. Walking forward I jumped up to grab his hand. Kirk pulled me up with ease helping me on the branch as well. After that, the branches were close enough for me to climb up myself. Kirk wanted me to go first informing me that was going to be a climb before we reached the top. So he stayed under me to catch me if needed be.

For an agonizing fifteen minutes we scaled up this tree and we weren't even close to the top! Eventually, due to the fatigue on my body I couldn't muster up the strength to move anymore. "Kirk, I can't go any further."

Stopping on the branch I was on Kirk looked at me with a smirk. "I'm actually impressed you went this long without stopping. Get on my back I'll carry you the rest of the way."

"You sure can climb well with me on your back?" I asked him and his only response was a thumbs up. Standing up I grabbed the next branch for support and made my way over to him. He had already turned his back to me waiting for me to climb on.

Placing my both my hands on his shoulders I jumped on his back wrapping my arms around his shoulders at the same time wrapping my legs around his lower abdomen. It was easier to cross cross them since he was already a thin person. "Hold on tight now." He instructed, placing his hand on the next branch and pulling us both up. Even though I knew he could carry me it didn't stop me from feeling like dead weight on his shoulders literally.

"This must a really huge surprise if your willing to scale a huge tree just to show me. Can I get a hint on what this may be?"

"Not even a hint. It'll ruin this entire climb! Don't worry, give me about five more minutes we'll be there. See that platform up there?"

Tilting my head upwards I saw the very far platform he was talking about. "I built that platforms years ago. It's where I sleep at primarily the bar also comes in handy when I'm not feeling up to climbing."

Five minutes was all it took for Kirk to reach the platform just as he stated. We were directly a branch under it. "Close your eyes." He said.

Closing my eyes Kirk climbed up the last branch. Our bodies brushed against leaves till there was nothing more then wind blowing against us. "Okay," Kirk's soft hands grabbed mine. "You can let go but don't open your eyes."

Unwrapping myself from around him I kept my eyes closed. He put his hands around my already closed eyes urging me to walk forward slowly. When I did Kirk whispered for me to open my eyes taking his own hands off of my eyes allowing me to finally see.

"Whoa...." We were higher then even the tallest of trees. However, that wasn't what caught my attention. It was the fact that I could see just exactly where we were and just like Kirk mentioned we were in a whole other dimension in space. I saw millions of stars glistening in the darkness of space. "Wait, is that the..."

"Yep. Those are the other three." Kirk answered.

In the far distance I saw the other three floating space islands. In between each was a dark clouded pathway leading to each respected island. We were in a giant square in the middle of deep space.

"This is just amazing..." was all I could fathom to say watching a comet shoot by us. "Kirk, this is amazing!" I yelled out to him.

Sitting down on the wooden platform all I could do was watch the sky. It's been a while since I've seen even a single star with leaving earth and all. Now, I was seeing them completely take up the entire night sky. I looked over to Kirk who was hugging his knees also taking in the scenery with a relaxed expression on his face.

Moving closer to him I tapped his shoulder wanting him to look at me. When he did I pointed towards the stars. "You probably never knew about this but sometimes, stars make unique shapes. That right there is what we call the Big Dipper back on earth."

"The Big Dipper huh? Now looking at that I see it. That's actually fascinating to see." He chuckled.

"Kirk... as cool as this is. Why are you showing me all of this?"

He tightened his jaw while at the same time gripping his arms a bit tighter. "A promise is a promise. I came up here so only me and you can talk about getting out of this place with everyone. Because..." he paused, "It won't be long till those three boys will come here to reach max capacity."

"Not only that, just I like I foresaw this place is beginning to go into chaos once more. Gavin's death, Jesse attacking Dakota, the battle between Sam and Jacan, me attacking Sam to get you back. But, my main concern is Charley and what he plans to do. I know Sam is going to tell what happened, no doubt he and Alexander will be on my back. Christ, that's more then enough on any person's plate. We're on a clock and the countdown has begun."

In Kyzarian's room the six of us gather around with a huge circle drawn on the floor with something similar to chalk. There was multiple drawings in the circle each indicating three different scenarios.

Scenario number one; teleportation. It was obvious that no one could teleport out of here with super powers. We were referring to the warden's office, the source of getting to this floating space island. Using Kirk's logic, the warden needs some type of device to warp us over here. If he was actually a god, he wouldn't need to wait for us to admit our sexuality. He'd know who was what before even being born. Whatever he was, he wasn't a god by any means. To conclude this scenario, if he was capable of getting us over here then there was a way to be sent back. The only two problems I see is... understanding another language. The code wasn't going to be in English by any means. The second being once we figure out said code we need to find a way to make a chain set of bombs to destroy the entire island while at the same time giving the person enough time to leave before it blows up.

Scenario number two; the void. During our time up in the tree Kirk and I both came up with an interesting theory about the mysterious void using Jacan and Sam as perfect examples. With Jacan, he suffered from gigantism and because of that Jacan was on the edge of obesity. Of course, when being transferred to the island the pituitary gland froze upon arriving forcefully stopping abnormal growth however so did the ability to lose weight. Naturally, he would want to not be in a body where his movements were limited and painful. After he entered the void Jacan's body completely transformed to a mountain of durable titanium.

Sam, a guy who loves talking about himself would naturally as person want to be the center of attention. He loves being THE guy in the mist of a huge crowd to hype him up. He feeds off energy of others to help him win and always be the best. What me and Kirk were getting at is that we have reason to believe that the void grants a person their deepest desire when entering the void. Jacan wanted to not be hindered by his size and Sam wanted to always steal the show. Percy is willing to put himself in the void to test this theory. He wants to be out of this place let's hope he can be granted a power to portal through dimensions. I would use myself as an example but my deepest desire had nothing to do with traveling through worlds at the time.

Scenario number three; kill the warden. Our last scenario was to kill the warden. Killing him would allow scenario one and two to be a lot easier for us. However, no one knows just how powerful the warden is. Considering the four original prisoners all have powers and none of them even bother trying to take him gives a huge speculation of how powerful he may be. Kirk told me that it would be near impossible to get the rest of them to work together properly.

I beg to differ though. What I'm about to say may sound stupid but I was going to try and get Charley and Alex on my side. Having Jacan, Kirk, Sam, Charley, and Alex all going at him at once would guarantee victory. I just needed the top three idiots to realize their little game is over.

"Two of the greatest minds..." Percy commented, "I knew having you two together would be beneficial!"

"Performing these scenarios is a whole other story." Jacan pitched in. "I hope you guys are aware that once we do this there is no turning back at all."

"We're aware Jacan but if nothing is done, thousands of us from all four islands are going to die. Killing one of the warden's is going to temporarily deter the other three. Dakota and Kyzarian can vouch for me. They are waiting until Hyptant reaches his max capacity before eating us."

"Zach's right, it's up to us to stop this. They have to pay for what they did to Gavin and any others who suffered the same fate as him." Dakota said.

Kyzarian crouched down grabbing the piece of chalk like material putting a check mark by scenario number three. "I can say that the first two have never really crossed our minds. Percy and I were always set on killing the warden we just couldn't gauge out a semi decent plan that would work. With this improved plan, I say we put an end to him once and for all." Standing up he handed the piece to Percy who also crouched down and put a check next to number three.

Dakota and Jacan were next and they also agreed with scenario three. It was me and Kirk left to decide on what we wanted to do. Jacan gave Kirk the writing utensil waiting for him to decide what he was going to choose.

Taking a glance at me I nodded my head at him. He returned the gesture lowering himself down and checking all three of the scenarios leaving everyone confused.

"Me and Kirk decided to completely erase this place from existence. The point of these scenarios were to see exactly where your heads were at. But if you look closely, three of these scenarios can be completed in one go. In fact, they are steps just written in slightly different ways to throw you guys off."

Taking the utensil from Kirk's hand I walked into middle of the circle while he backed out. "Using the underground tunnel and the warden's schedule, we have more then enough time to assess to learn how the device works. Myself and Kirk will need to go a few hours in advance to gather intel on how he opens portals to go to different places. Next, Percy and Dakota will go over to the void to test our the theory. Having a trump card is important just in case the device proves to be a failure. Finally, Jacan will need to begin influencing the prisoners on the upcoming danger silently. His title will make it easier for people to listen and follow. Of course, the three original prisoners will be an issue but nothing that can't be overcome. Kyzarian will add additional support.

Hyptant, we're taking you and your whole entire island down you son of bitch.